Portal:Current events/2015 August 19

Current events of August 19, 2015 (2015-08-19) (Wednesday)

Armed conflicts and attacks

• Boko Haram insurgency
  • At least 151 were killed in a Boko Haram attack last week on a northeastern Nigerian village, Yadin Kukuwa. News of the attack was slow to emerge because the militants destroyed telecom masts around the village. (Independent) (AFP via Times Live)

• Destruction of cultural heritage by ISIL, Syrian Civil War
  • Islamic State militants behead an 82-year-old antiquities scholar Khaled Asaad, who worked for over 50 years as head of antiquities in Palmyra. (Reuters) BBC

• Iraq War (2014–present)
  • A suicide bomber kills at least 20 Iraqi Army troops in the city of Baiji. (Al-Arabiyah)

International relation

• Estonian-Russian relations
  • A court in Russia has sentenced Estonian security official Eston Kohver to 15 years in prison for espionage. (BBC)
• Sudan–United States relations
  • United States announces that it is proposing sanctions against those connected to the South Sudan conflict, unless a ceasefire is reached promptly. (Al Jazeera English Online)

Law and crime

• User data of the infidelity-promoting dating site Ashley Madison has purportedly been leaked with over 30 million users having their information compromised. (BBC)

Sport

• The International Association of Athletics Federations elects former British Olympic champion runner Lord Sebastian Coe as its new President replacing Lamine Diack of Senegal. Ukrainian pole vault champion Sergey Bubka was the other contender for the position. (BBC) (Al Jazeera English Online)